Large displays can be prohibitively expensive as the cost to manufacture display panels rises exponentially with display area. This exponential rise in cost arises from the increased complexity of large monolithic displays, the decrease in yields associated with large displays (a greater number of components must be defect free for large displays), and increased shipping, delivery, and setup costs. Tiling smaller display panels to form larger multi-panel displays can help reduce many of the costs associated with large monolithic displays.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate how tiling multiple smaller, less expensive display panels 100 together can achieve a large multi-panel display 105, which may be used as a large wall display. The individual images displayed by each display panel 100 may constitute a sub-portion of the larger overall-image collectively displayed by multi-panel display 105. While multi-panel display 105 can reduce costs, visually it has a major drawback. Each display panel 100 includes a bezel 110 around its periphery. Bezel 110 is a mechanical structure that houses pixel region 115 in which the display pixels are disposed. In recent years, manufactures have reduced the thickness of bezel 110 considerably to less than 2 mm. However, even these thin bezel trims are still very noticeable to the naked eye, distract the viewer, and otherwise detract from the overall visual experience.
Various other approaches for obtaining seamless displays include display lensing, blended projection, stackable display cubes, and LED tiles. Display lensing places a single contiguous lens in front of each display panel 100 to present a fused borderless image in a particular “sweet spot.” However, the viewing angle is relative narrow and image distortion along continuous lines still occurs. Blended projection uses software stitching and mechanical mounting of traditional projection screens. Currently, blended projection uses relatively low cost hardware and is a good option for non-planar surfaces. However, there are significant physical constraints on usage and installation and requires regular maintenance and sophisticated calibration.